I'm ready for you (are you ready for me?)
by Someone aka Me
Summary: Seamus and Dean are soulmates. The whole school knows that. So what is George supposed to do when Seamus says his words? And what is Fred supposed to do when Dean says his? :: For Bex.


Prompts at the end. For Bex.

3240 words

..**..

George is born with "Okay, but what did you do to it?" curling around his left wrist and Fred is born with "You already turned my roommate into a canary; do you really think I'm going to eat your sweets?" curled around his right wrist. Molly knows immediately that these twin boys are going to raise hell.

And they do, together, side by side.

..**..

Dean is born with "Oh no. So glad you're here to save me" scrawled across his left collarbone. When he read it, when his mum tells him that these are the first words his soulmate is going to say to him, he dreams of a heroic rescue. He dreams of swooping in out of nowhere, saving his soulmate's life.

This is not what he gets.

..**..

Seamus has "You're going to fall in the lake if you keep that up" curving across his left thigh, just above his knee.

His mother enrolls him in swim lessons as soon as she can. This seems like a reasonable reaction, Seamus thinks, when he is old enough to understand.

..**..

Dean is eleven when a woman knocks on the front door of his house. She is dressed in a sharp black suit with an emerald blouse underneath. She looks stern and intimidating, and Dean and his sisters hide in Dean's room as she speaks to his parents.

They call Dean down shortly. His parents look slightly shell shocked.

"Sit down," his mum tells him. Obediently, Dean sits.

"You know that time your sister fell out of the tree in the garden, and we swore you were nowhere near her, but you caught her anyway?" she says.

Dean nods. It was a hard moment to forget. He had felt like he traveled all the way across the garden in a single step.

His mother nods. "That's because you have magic, honey. This is Professor McGonagall." His mum gestures at the woman in the suit. "She teaches at a school for magic. She's going to take you and your father to a place where you can buy supplies for her school."

Dean is observant. He sees the way his mother looks, as though she maybe wants to believe this, because it explains a lot (because it wasn't just the tree; there have been other incidents). She wants to believe, but she doesn't trust this woman who has turned up at her doorstep and wants to take away her son.

So Dean and his father go with the woman to a small, dark pub in central London, which opens up into a vast world, and Dean believes.

..**..

Seamus spends the entire train ride in a state of perpetual excitement. He's found a few other first years to sit with. Hannah and Michael and Terry seem nice enough, but Seamus is too agitated to settle and talk. Patience has never been his strong suit.

The train ride passes in a blur.

On the Hogsmeade platform, a very large man directs the first years to a fleet of small wooden boats. Seamus gets in a boat with Hannah, a taller black boy, and a pretty girl with dark hair and a smiling face.

Seamus looks around in awe as the boat begins to move. He leans over and watches fish skitter around just below the surface. He leans further, letting his fingers skim the water, breaking it apart and watching it fall back together.

"You're going to fall in the lake if you keep that up," the boy behind him says.

Without thinking, Seamus deadpans back, "Oh no. So glad you're here to save me."

Then the boy's words sink in and he bolts upright and whirls around. The boy is staring at him, eyes wide. The whites of his eyes contrast his dark skin, which blends into the dark sky.

"You just said my words," Seamus says.

"You just said mine," says the boy.

Seamus feels his face break into a grin. "I'm Seamus." He sticks his hand out, and the boy takes it, his grip firm.

"Dean."

It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

..**..

"Have a pasty," are the first words George Weasley ever says directly to Seamus Finnigan.

Seamus is fourteen; George is sixteen. It's October.

Seamus looks up from his chair in front of the common room fire, eyeing George suspiciously. He's heard what George and Fred have been giving to the whole of Gryffindor house lately.

"Okay, but what did you do to it?" George startles, but Seamus doesn't react. Certainly doesn't act like George just said his words, but how is that possible when _Seamus just said George's_? George stumbles for a second.

He recovers with, "Ah, you've got me. Off to find another victim- er, volunteer, then!"

He bolts.

Fred finds him in their dorm, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"You disappeared in the middle of testing; what happened?"

George moans, then aggressively smashes a pillow over his face.

"That bad, eh?"

George loudly vocalizes his displeasure into the pillow.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No." George knows his tone is too childish, but he can't seem to reign it in.

He sighs, and puts the poor pillow down, sitting up.

"I think I found my soulmate," he finally says.

"Then why are you up here sulking?" Fred asks.

"He said my words. I don't think I said his." George blinks blearily at the corner of the bed, then turns to Fred. "I didn't even know that was possible."

"I didn't either," Fred says. "Look, the library probably has some books on this soulmate stuff. Let's go look."

They find that it's possible, but rare, to have unrequited soulmates. They find that platonic soulmates exist, and that some people even have their family members as platonic soulmates. They find that no one knows how soulmates work, or how they started. They find a lot of things, and not a single one of them are reassuring.

..**..

It's less than a month later when Fred says his first words to Dean Thomas and winds up equally shaken.

"Would you like a chocolate?" Fred offers.

Dean looks back at him sceptically. "You already turned my roommate into a canary; do you really think I'm going to eat your sweets?"

Fred goes stone cold still. Dean looks at him, his expression calm. He gives no indication that _would you like a chocolate_ is inscribed anywhere on his skin. Besides that, he found out a week ago from some discrete inquiries into Seamus' soulmate status that the whole fucking year knew that Seamus and Dean had each other, said their words in front of a bunch of people their first year. _Fuck_ , Fred thinks. _This was supposed to be rare._

Looks like he and George are twins, even in this.

George finds him moping in his bed an hour later, takes one look at his face, and says, "Oh, _Fred_."

Fred just nods.

"Fuck, Freddie. I know you've always gotta keep me company but I never would have wished this for you."

"I know," Fred says, because he does.

..**..

Seamus doesn't know why George Weasley has decided that they need to be friends, but he clearly has, and Seamus is not opposed. George starts sitting next to him in the common room and at meals. He starts nudging Seamus before handing out sweets, letting him in on the joke. He sends Seamus secret smiles.

At one point, he mentions it to Dean, and Dean gives him a weird look.

"Fred has been doing the same with me."

Seamus blinks in surprise.

"Weird."

But in the end, he decides it doesn't matter, because he genuinely likes George. George is hilarious, but he's also kind and clever as hell. Seamus suspects the twins might be secretly geniuses. The experimenting that goes into the inventing that he and Fred are doing is insanely complex, and it's fascinating to watch the pair of them brainstorm. They bounce off each other in a way that is mostly silence filled with half uttered sentences and such fluid communication that Seamus feels privileged to be allowed to witness it.

And Dean is still his best friend but Fred and George become something else, something that's just as special.

..**..

In September of their fifth year, Seamus looks at Dean one day and says, "Do you think we should… date?"

Dean takes a minute to stare at him. The idea had, oddly, never occurred to him. Seamus is his best friend. Why would they date?

But they're soulmates. Soulmates like his parents were soulmates. Soulmates like most married people are. Most people who have found their soulmate at Hogwarts are already dating. Honestly, most people probably assume they're already dating.

"I… guess?" Dean finally says. Seamus breathes out, and Dean can't quite tell if it's in relief or disappointment.

"Um. Okay. Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"Seamus, we go to Hogsmeade together every weekend. How is this going to be any different?"

Seamus shrugs. "Have you got a better idea, then?"

"Erm." Dean has one, but he doesn't really want to do it. "We could… go to Madam Puddifoot's?"

Seamus' face does something weird that Dean can't interpret. "Sure."

And so they do.

They're walking down the path to Hogsmeade when Seamus says, "Take my hand."

"What?" Dean asks.

"Take my hand. It's a date. We should hold hands."

"Erm. All right." Dean takes his hand. It feels. Weird. But warm. So that's… okay?

They get to Madam Puddifoot's, and Dean knows immediately that this was a terrible idea. Everything is pink. And frilly. Not that that's bad; it's just not how he and Seamus work.

They sit down, and order tea. It comes in the world's smallest cups. They sit there for a moment. The silence is louder than it has ever been between them.

Dean takes a sip of his tiny cup of tea. It's the worst tea he's ever had in his life, and he used to have tea parties with his step-sisters all the time.

He looks a Seamus, and dear God, Seamus' eyes are begging to leave louder than anything Dean has ever seen.

"Yeah, okay, this was a shite idea."

Seamus breathes out. "Oh thank god. Three Broomsticks? Get a proper sized goblet, instead of this teeny tiny leprechaun cup?"

Dean grins, nodding.

..**..

Seamus isn't religious, but he's considering begging God to get him out of this date. He's glad when Dean agrees that tea was a bad plan, but things don't get as much better as he was hoping when they move to Three Broomsticks. Sure, they get proper water goblets and Butterbeers, but it's clear that they're both still feeling awkward.

Seamus assumes it's just first date nerves. He's heard this happens, and it's not like either of them has ever really been on a date before. It'll be fine. Once they get over their nerves.

It does not get any better.

They walk back to the dorm and neither one of them knows how to end this, so they both just awkwardly go to bed. At 7pm.

Seamus thinks maybe now that the first date is over, things will get better. So they try again the next weekend.

It does not get any better.

This time, just before they get back to the Common Room, Seamus decides that this is stupid and that's there's really only one way that's going to convince them both either that this is doomed or to keep giving it a chance.

"Fuck it," he says. "Fuck it. Dean, can I kiss you?"

Dean looks at him, wide eyed, but eventually nods. Seamus takes a deep breath. "Okay," he says. "Okay." He moves closer, stands up on his tiptoes until Dean catches the hint and bends down, and then they're kissing.

It's weird. It feels weird and awkward and pointless, like something neither of them wants but both of them feel like they should want.

Dean pulls away.

"No offense," he starts, and Seamus starts grinning as Dean finishes. "No offense, Shay, but I really don't think we should date."

"Thank God," Seamus tells him. "Look, you're my best friend, and even my goddamn soulmate, but I _really_ don't like you like that."

Dean just smiles. "Good. Yes. Me too."

"Thank fuck. Can we go back to being friends now? Because this has sucked. I miss my best friend."

Dean slings an arm around his shoulder and says, "Of course." This, this is what Seamus wanted. Just them, without the awkwardness.

..**..

Seamus and Dean may have been two of the only people who knew what George and Fred were planning for their grand exit during finals, but that doesn't mean they knew the true scale of it.

George may have done this on purpose. So when he flies into Seamus' exam hall followed by a massive, towering dragon made of fireworks, he finds Seamus' face and sees the pure, beautiful awe located there. It sends sparks throughout his body. _Shit_ , he thinks, but it's not like his crush on Seamus is _news_. He just… didn't exactly know it had gotten quite this bad.

He looks over at Fred, and the besotten look on Fred's face as he looks at Dean, and he wonders how exactly they got so unlucky.

..**..

Seamus spends most of his seventh year lonely. Fred and George have been gone for over a year, but now he's lost Dean as well, and he can't really owl message any of then, because he knows they're reading his mail.

He has Neville and Lavender and Parvati, and it's not that he doesn't love all of them, but he misses his best friend, and he misses… whatever Fred and George have become to him.

So he throws himself into his rebellion against Snape and the carrows, becomes the leader he never meant to be, and somehow winds up not caring how much he gets hurt in the meantime.

When Dean and Fred and George show up, his face is bruised to shit and he can see all three of them staring at him out of the corner of their eyes. None of them are as subtle as they think they are.

But then it doesn't matter what his face looks like because they're fighting for their school and their freedom.

..**..

Dean walks into the Great Hall after Voldemort calls for a cease fire and he feels the blood in his veins turn to ice.

And that's when he figures it out.

That's when he knows that he loved Fred Weasley.

When it no longer matters. When it makes no difference at all, because Fred is _dead_.

He sees George curled over Fred's still body, and something inside of Dean dies right along with him.

Seamus finds him still frozen there, follows his gaze, and goes still. " _Fuck_ ," he says, and it's almost a whisper.

Neither one of them seems to know whether they should attempt to bring comfort to George or leave him alone in his grief.

Eventually, Seamus takes Dean's hand and drags him over, only letting him go when they're a few paces away. Seamus closes the gap between him and George, and carefully places a hand on George's shoulder. Dean watches as George looks at him, and then the hand that isn't gripping Fred's comes up and grips Seamus's tightly. They look at each other silently, for a moment, and then George turns back to Fred and tears start to fall down Seamus' face. The shock of seeing Seamus cry moves Dean forward, and he steps up next to Seamus and wraps an arm around his friend's shoulder. He grips a little tighter than he otherwise might. He doesn't cry. He doesn't know if he can. He might later.

..**..

Seamus and Dean go to Fred's funeral together. Dean has cried, while he was alone, but he doesn't have any tears left. Seamus is bawling. George just looks pale and drawn and broken. His siblings are huddled around him in a giant mass.

After the funeral, Seamus and Dean slide into the Muggle world, rent a shitty flat far enough outside of London to afford it on the jobs they can get without evidence of any Muggle education.

It's three years later when Seamus goes back to Diagon Alley for the first time. He tells himself that he's using the opportunity to get over his trauma (because some nights he still wakes up screaming) but he knows that really he's looking for George.

He stares at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes for a long time before going in.

George is stocking Skiving Snackboxes. His hair is longer. It's pulled back at the nape of his neck, which shows off the scar crossing the side of his head where his ear used to be. His face is tired, but his fingers are as quick and nimble as ever as they stack and slide the boxes.

He's still beautiful.

Seamus keeps his steps heavy as he crosses the floor. He knows none of them like being crept up on, after the war.

"Hey there, Georgie. What've you got for a bloke who's as broke as I am?"

George looks at him, and the smile that crosses his face is genuine.

"You know, you can get a lot for a kidney on the black market," he says, his mouth quirking at the corners.

Seamus can feel his grin spread all the way across his face. "You look good. How are you?"

George shrugs, his lips twisting. "Oh, you know. There are good days and bad days."

And Seamus does know. "And what's today?"

"Pretty good, now that you've emerged from whatever cave you've been hiding in! Seriously, Finnigan, you just up and leave without a word, take Thomas with you?"

Seamus shrugs. "Maybe I needed to find myself. Maybe I needed to lose a few demons."

George just nods.

Seamus looks at him for a second. He takes in a deep breath, asks himself what he's got to lose, and finally says the words he's been thinking for ages.

"Will you go on a date with me?"

George stares at him in blatant shock. After a moment, he recovers enough to form a sort of sentence.

"I'm… confused. Aren't you and Dean…"

Seamus throws his head back and laughs. George does his best not to get distracted by the pale, freckled line of his throat.

"No," Seamus finally says. "We're soulmates, yeah, that much is true. But it never meant anything more than that he was my brother in all but blood. We tried once, in fifth year. It was hilariously tragic, and we soon became very aware that the only reason we were doing it was because we felt like we were supposed to. By the end of it we both agreed we made much better friends than boyfriends."

George is sure his face is doing some interesting things right now as he absorbs that information.

 _Seamus and Dean were never really together._

 _They've wasted so much time._ Not just he and Seamus, but _oh God, Freddie_. Freddie, who loved Dean, who had Dean's words, who never said a thing because Dean had Seamus.

He didn't know it was possible to feel quite this much regret for things long since past.

His heart aches for what could have been, but Seamus is here, and Seamus is looking at him, and George pulls himself out of the past and says, "In that case, I'd love to."

…****...

For Bex for the Monthly one shot on HPFC, using pairing (SeamusGeorge), genres (romance/angst), prompts (soulmate!AU).

For Hogwarts Writing Club Character appreciation (5. House: Gryffindor), Writing club Buttons (Word: pretty; Dialogue: "Take my hand."; Object: Goblet), Writing Club Showtime (9. Patience), Writing Club Year in Entertainment (Relationship: Best Friends (Dean and Seamus)), Writing Club Book Club (Astrid Ellsion: regret, religious, genius), Sticker Challenge (Transportation 3, write about a Weasley), Insane House Challenge (205. GeorgeSeamus), January Writing Challenge (WC), Dragon Challenge (WC), Resolutions(38. write about a Quidditch Player, 45. Soulmate AU), 365 prompts (108. Dialogue - "You know, you can get a lot for a kidney on the black market.")


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